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"I'm asking you, shithead," Tor said, making Black's fingers curl against my skin. "You're who's here, which I notice -"
It was Doc who said Tor's name in a sharp hiss. "Tor."
It was a warning, and there was an immediate silence. I stared at the table, my chest filling with cold fear.
"Get up," Black said. Momentarily, I didn't understand that he was talking to me. He patted my bottom lightly, and I looked over at him. His eyes were on Tor, but he looked quickly to my eyes and nodded, before staring back at Tor.
I sat and slid off the table. Doc handed my robe, over the table, to Black, who took it without taking his eyes off Tor, and moved it toward me.
I put it on, and then, when nothing changed, I slid off the table and stood next to Black.
“This is bullshit,” Tor spat. I didn’t dare look at him. I stared at the floor, clutching my robe around me.
I sensed movement, that they were getting closer to each other. The ambiance in the room seemed so intense all of the sudden: I closed my eyes and hoped it would be over soon. If Black had not been there with me, I would have probably started crying or tried to make a run for it.
“She say something to you?” Tor shouted at Black. “Did she tell you some lie? And now Cap’s gonna believe it?” There was a pause, and then Tor must have turned his face toward me because his voice seemed louder and more direct. “Is that what this is? You told a bunch of lies to big daddy alpha about me - ?”
Something swung through air in their general direction, followed by a dull thud. The sound was accompanied by crack. I looked up more out of instinct: something very bad and destructive was definitely happening.
But by the time I was looking at Tor and Black, they were already in motion. Tor went flying into a wall, knocking medical equipment all over the floor, and I jumped. Doc jumped after Black, who appeared ready to jump on top of Tor and start tearing him to pieces.
Scar intervened, putting himself between Black and Tor, as though he meant to protect Tor from Black, but this was confusing. He did seem to be doing just that, but started punching Tor as soon as he was planted over him.
No one said anything, so I was left to try and figure out what was happening. Somehow, through all of the punching and glaring and low growls at each other, they settled on some kind of solution and stood apart from each other, panting and glaring, but not hitting or even looking like they were going to.
I had a brief pang of nostalgia for ATDC and its population of men who wouldneverbehave like this. A scene like this would have caused all four of them to end up in a reeducation program, and then probably booted from the corporation.
I was clutching my robe and also panting, almost like I had been in the brawl with them. I had never seen a physical confrontation between men before. There had been Black chopping Stephen in the throat back when the crew boarded our ship, but that hadn’t been the same, because it had happened very fast, Black had barely broken his stride doing it, and Stephen had fallen like a rock.
This was decidedly different, and much more terrifying.
Tor moved his eyes from Doc and Black to me. He raised a hand to point at me. “You -”
The door hissed open at that moment and everyone looked past me at whoever entered.
Which was obvious, within a mere second, because everyone’s expressions and body language changed rapidly and completely. Black stood taller, Tor looked angry and dropped his hand, then his eyes.
Scar, who really hadn’t been doing much of anything, put one fist into a palm and twisted it, looking back at Rhys. Doc stepped backward, and I wondered if he was aware that he did that.
I turned to look at Rhys because I was relieved he was there. Everything was still tense, but it feltunder control.
“Black,” he said, without taking his eyes off Tor. “Take Alena to my quarters.”
“Hold up,” Tor said, suddenly lifting his eyes. His behavior seemed to shock everyone in the room, except Rhys, who somehow seemed to expect it. “I wanna know -”
“Hold up?” Rhys said. He said this slowly, his voice at a regular, intimate level, and completely calm. “Holdup?” His eyes flashed, then shifted to me. He held out his arm, turning his palm upward, his elbow slightly bent. Directly toward me.
I hesitated, but then reached for it, and he closed his fingers around my hand and pulled me toward him, then stepped around me, putting himself between me and the men. “Are you challenging me, Tor?”
Tor made a sound with his mouth that sounded similar to a man spitting. “Not challenging you, Cap,” he said. “Challenging your wisdom, though.”
I could have sworn that the temperature of the room skyrocketed at that moment, all while feeling like it became ice cold, because all sound ceased to exist. I didn’t know what was happening here, but I figured it was pretty bad. I hugged myself and looked around for a place to hide. I had no idea what these men were upset about, but I thought I had a pretty good idea of what they were capable of.
Rhys moved toward Tor. I thought I heard him laugh.
“That right, Tor? Challenging my wisdom?”
Tor didn’t say anything, He was glaring fiercely, but I could see that something inside him felt like backing down.
